Aihe: Eine Kleine Thread for Prototype Decklists

[Bor]

Hiyah!

A lot of pros already brewed some sick decks and some have been tuned on different forums.

In this topic I would like to regularly share some of those, plus my own, plus playtesting sessions with some brews and textual thoughts on the progress.

Reviewing decklists - Ep.1

(RB Madness Aggro, Atarka Red, Naya Superfriends, Monoblue Control, BG Delirium Rock, BG Abbey Rite, Abzan Combo, Abzan Drain)

In the next ep. - BW Midrange, UB Sigrist Reanimator, Jund Midrange and others.

All decklists are here (tappedout.net).


Some akward thoughts and conclusions so far:

Most of the new builds I came across have some strange features.
I think some misconceptions and conundrums have to be stressed out (public and personal opinions, subject to criticism):

There is no incentive to be heavy on Vampires and creatures in RB. No real lords. Just be a burn Atarka Red type of deck splashing black. Most lists I saw have very little reach and mediocre creatures that don't really serve the purpose of the deck.

White Weenie lists feature too many bad cards and not enough aggression and tempo. Don't mix this strategy's goals with Midrange builds.

UB Reanimator builds so far look like a lottery. Feels like nobody yet came up with a consistent build. Smoothen the deck should be a priority. Should the deck feature Geralf’s Masterpiece to be playable, or this is extra?

How can we stop BG Abbey deck? That spamming turbo mana madness. Is it really as good as people say?

Why nobody likes From Under the Floorboards? The card is pretty sweet.

I am not comfortable with Epiphany at the Drownyard in every blue deck. The deck is not that good, but I admit, there is no good alternative.

Bant Company deserves more mentions everywhere.

Does Naya Superfriends deck have to run Avacyn?

Zombies are a fluke. URx Tutelage is underrated.

Feel free to correct me or give more arguments or stats. Or just provide more thoughts.

[Bor]

Moar decks, lists and archtypes!

Ep.2

Inside a close look at GR Ramp, BW Control, Esper Dragons, Jund Midrange, and Bant, Jund and Eldrazi Collected Company variants.

Overall as for all decklists elsewhere and here:
BW and Ramp looks very sweet, Dragons should be good, but don't strike as much, plus that new Edict on steroids.
Some say best CoCo deck is Eldrazi Aggro. Bant likely will become UG with some aggresive drop over Jaces.
Jund Midrange looks like a never ending value train, but is it fast enough...

[Bor]

Hello, folks! After experimenting a ton with Elves last season, I tried to see a good build I liked for SOI Standard. Last Season I basically made the deck into Jund Aggro with Rakshasa Deathdealer and Kolaghan. This time after being on the receiving end of Rally in winter, I decided to go a similar route. No Rally, but there was March from the Tomb, Advocates, manlands, Lili, and the rest of the company. Nissa just did not do enough with this many Forests. There are enough CA engines and creature types are vital. She is an Elf but not an Ally and she doesn't help the plan that much. Elvish Visionary would likely come back into this list, but not full set. There are soooo many 2-drops here, and they do a ton of work. SB is a work in progress, but there are no bad plans in it right now.

The decklist here and below:

3x Beastcaller Savant
2x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
4x Dwynen's Elite
4x Gnarlroot Trapper
4x Kalastria Healer
2x Liliana, Heretical Healer
4x Shaman of the Pack
4x Sylvan Advocate
3x Thornbow Archer
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
4x Caves of Koilos
2x Forest
4x Hissing Quagmire
4x Llanowar Wastes
3x Shambling Vent
2x Swamp
1x Tranquil Expanse
4x Collected Company
2x March from the Tomb
Sideboard
3x Duress
1x Eerie Interlude
1x Evolutionary Leap
3x Eyeblight Massacre
4x Grasp of Darkness
1x March from the Tomb
2x Ultimate Price
Ze Deck Tech, if something is unclear

[Bor]

So here are the updates prior and post FNM that I made in preparations for the Game Day:

Cut 2 Grasps in SB for one Lantern Scout and one Pulse of Murasa (Against red and other aggro decks).
2 Grasps and 2 Prices should be enough for Avacyn decks and such.
Just now I added a second Eerie Interlude to SB (Hello Languish, Kozilek's Return, Tendrils), and cut one Duress leaving 2.
Interlude serves a similar purpose against control decks.

Right before FNM I had to cut 2 Advocates, since those there borrowed and I needed to give them back for one friend to play Bant.
Then I cut one Elite, 1 Archer (2 left now), and hence put back one Nissa and 3 Visionaries.
Advocate is a great card, 7-8 manlands really support that, but it is not integral to the gameplan that much.
1 Nissa is there for grinds, 4th land for CoCo and sometimes digging for more Companies or March.

Against Bant I gambled in siding and took out Visionaries and CoCos for 2rd March, Scout nad 4 removals.
Againt Control and Ramp you now take out Archers, 1 Healer, 1 Visionary, 1 Elite, 1 Trapper, and add
2 Interludes, 2 Duress, 1 Leap, 3rd March.

[Bor]

Shortly about game day. Just 15 ppl. 4 rounds, no top cut, 4-0 gets the mat, etc.
Won vs Monor Eldrazi and Jeskai Dragons. Lost a close one to BW Midrange because I missplayed with Avacyn. Lost last round to GW Tokens where it came down to G3 and topdeck wars. Both at low life, Ive been chumping few times against a big Advocate with counters as well. Trapper in play. I drew March,but needed to top fifth and untapped land for a straight kill (2 Healers in the bin and 5 other allies incl Zula, he is at 9), my topdeck a tapped manland. His top - Dromokas Command for the win.
I think some removals in SB should be some copies of Declaration and/or Unmaking.
I would never get my wins without Cutthroats and Healers. Stock Elves would be easily outclassed in this world of Bant, GW, and other Weenie, plus you have pseudo-Rally and Zula aka Sweepers Protection Program.
Lily is OP, Nissa is not obligatory, neither of the versions. Interlude is spicy, it prevents sweeps as well.
Basically if you add a few Declarations, and some Unmakings for all the possible troubles, than you can mb cut Massacres. Because you just need to get rid of big Thopters floods and Secures floods. Being able to exile Multiple Advocates is also sweet, as well e.g. removing Displacers etc.   

[Bor]

Epic Massive Silly Cheesy Versus Battle with Abzan Drain vs Bant Company

Red decks don't matter. You only care about Declaration and Tendrils.
You dont really care that much about your stuff dying. Extra March and Interlude from SB mitigate all Radiants, Languish, Return, unless they have a Scorn same turn.
CoCo is how you trap them and mess up the math, plus it helps by surprise Lily and then chump or trade, flip her, get a drainer back on your turn.
Once you put Rite into this deck ud want to go till the end up to PT lists.
No elves in new Inni is why you need all the additional draining packs or just building it all over into actual Husk Aristocrats.
By outclassed I didnt mean that removals are bad for this deck, but that by building it as an aggro deck, you would not win. This is a slow combo deck.
4 shamans is not enough, but with such hybrid you have always some damage dealt.
Bant Company is a good matchup. Esper could be tough, but Interlude helps. Only exile effects matter.
Nothing else. Doesn't look like there any terrible matchups. Despite my 2-2 at the Game Day, everything was either very good or just close there and at matches before that day.

[Bor]

About Elves-powered builds in general:

- If you play straight BG, then you'd definitely need Might of the Masses/ Foul-Tongue Shriek for reach in main,
- Gryff's Boon is just a cool card right now, there's still a lot of ground board stalls in the field,
- If again you are not splashing, then you'd need few Duress and Trangress the Mind in SB for sure to deal with a buttload of walkers in meta,
- My build can often ignore their walkers for a long time, because I am on more of a attrition combo, but aggro versions should really pack answers at least in SB, which leads to hte fact that...
- Red splash is almost free duals wise. You'd get answers to most things in SB just like with white, and you would gains maindeck options of the last season in Kolaghan's or Atarka's Command
- I decided that I can cut mine from an Abzan build, because I care about sweepers way less and I would add more than 1 Unmaking moving on,
- Similar things go about answers for Urmendahl, i.e. you would need Clip Wings or white exile removal to not just die to that one giant demon,
- Clip Wings, Price and Grasp is just a must package in SB in some numbers for Avacyn among other
- around 3 copies of Eyeblight Massacre is also basically a must thing, too many tokens or weenies around

More about my concoction:

- Going to try a second Leap in SB over 1 Grasp, which I think is bad because for me it is often about opposing big Advocates,
hence thinking of a third Price over the remaining Grasp.
Both kill Avacyn, while Grasp can kill both Jace and Ojutai, but there can be a giant Kalitas or other big meat on their side...
So yeah, 2nd Leap to not get trapped by their Declaration into your multiples...
- Don't like Ayli really even in my build. Not elf, not Ally, slow and weird, deathtouch is fine, but not needed, with Rally it was ok, but March cannot get it back